This is Love
by Sandileina
Summary: Fluff. Marui and Akaya’s relationship deepens further. Short but sweet!


**Disclaimer: **… Make my day. –Points Cupid bow-

**Rating: **PG, I think?

**Warnings: **Fluff, shounen-ai/yaoi, fluff, references to sex. And fluff.

**Summary: **Fluff. Marui and Akaya's relationship deepens further. Short but sweet!

**Author's notes:** Another Rikkai drabblething. **You don't have to have read the ones that come before this, but it might help a bit. **The drabblething list goes:

**Times of Stress**

**Passing the Time**

**How to ask out Marui Bunta**

**Four Days Later**

**October Ice**

**Because I Love You**

**Evil**

**Further Nonsense**

**Dear Diary**

**Kind of… the same**

**100 Word Challenges**

**Driver in a Hurry, Child in a Coma**

**Doctor, doctor!**

**The Woes of Solomon Grundy**

**I'm Not Going**

**The Little Things**

**He WHAT?!**

**Operation: Christmas Party**

**Being Fukubuchou**

**Once Upon a Time**

**My Brother Bunta**

**Dear Diary: Living with Niou-senpai**

**A Morning at the Pool**

**This is Love**

Eh heh… -waves nervously- Sorry it's been a while; I've had a tonne of work to do at school, yanno… final exams coming up real soon… yeah… n.n;; Forgive me?

Here we have the obligatory Valentine fic :) Enjoy the fluff. Several sheep died to make it so. xD

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Akaya exhaled loudly and squirmed onto his side, snuggling firmly up against his boyfriend. "Nice," he murmured sleepily. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool, but in a good way. In the kind of way where you felt as though it wouldn't matter if a brick dropped on you, because it wouldn't hurt.

There was no verbal reply, but Marui tucked him into a loose embrace and kissed him on his temple. Then, almost as a second thought, nudged Akaya's chin up so that he could kiss him properly.

"See, now, why couldn't we have started having sex before Christmas?" Akaya asked. "Silly Maru-chan."

"If you're gonna call me 'round', then at least do it politely," Marui yawned. "And we're not going over that again. Too sleepy."

"'K, fine," muttered the curly-haired boy. "Maru-san. Better?"

"Yeah."

Peace descended on the small bedroom. The sun had set a couple of hours ago; the only light in the room came from a tiny nightlight that one of Marui's little brothers had left in there yesterday, and Marui had forgotten to give back.

Speaking of his little brothers… "Oh, yeah, Aka-chan? Can you be a bit quieter next time? Saku and Akio are playing video games, but they might still be able to hear something."

Akaya snorted; it had a disturbingly Niou-like quality to it, and Marui made a hasty mental note to make sure his easily-influenced lover spent a little less time around him. "You're louder than I am. Niou-senpai _says_ so."

"Since when did you listen to what 'Haru had to say about anything?"

"Since he came home early last week and nearly died laughing at how 'pathetically in love' you are with me."

Marui blinked. "Oh… so _that's_ what he was laughing about. I thought it was just cos you were mumbling in your sleep."

"Nuh uh. He said so later."

Thought processes clicked slightly more firmly into Marui's post-coitally fogged mind. "Wait, how the hell does 'Haru know who's louder?"

"Dunno. It's Niou-senpai." That in itself was a pretty good argument. "He's probably got your room bugged. Or maybe Yanagi-senpai has the room bugged. Or maybe he can turn invisible. Or maybe-"

Marui clapped a hand firmly over Akaya's mouth. "Shut up, Akaya," he chuckled. Akaya attempted to pout but found that he couldn't really be bothered, and settled for nipping Marui's palm instead with his teeth.

"Ow." The not-quite protest was shattered further by a longer yawn.

"What time're your parents coming home?" Akaya asked. Marui wrinkled his nose and gave a vague shrug.

"'Bout ten, I think. Why?"

"Just wondered." A moment's quiet. "Ne, Maru-chan?"

Marui rolled onto his own side to face Akaya properly, violet eyes blinking incredulously at him. "What do I have to do to make you tired enough to be quiet?" he demanded through a laugh.

"You should ask Yanagi-senpai," Akaya shrugged, taking the question seriously.

Shaking his head, Marui sighed and said, "What were you saying?"

"Do you love me?"

"You know I do." Marui rolled back onto his back and pulled Akaya half on top of him so that he could hold him more comfortably. "You just like to hear me say it, don't you?"

"Yeah," Akaya nodded unashamedly. "So do you?"

Marui gave him a gentle, sleepy kiss. "Of course. I love you, Aka-chan. More than anything."

"More than tennis?"

"Definitely."

"More than cookies?"

"More than anything in the world, Baby."

Akaya tilted his head up. "That's a new one. Isn't that English?"

"Yeah. 'S pretty much the same as Aka-chan. I think. Endearment, anyway." Marui's voice was growing more slurred, and his eyes were sliding shut.

"Oh." Akaya thought for a second. "Baby. Huh… It's ok, I guess."

"Mm."

"Cos, yanno, no-one else calls me that, but Mura-buchou and sometimes Niou-senpai and Jackal-senpai call me Aka-chan, so…"

There was no reply; Marui had fallen asleep. Akaya smirked to himself as he listened to his quiet snores, and watched his face relax in sleep.

Since that talk just after his birthday in September, Akaya had stopped himself saying that he loved Marui, purely to see if his boyfriend was correct and what he thought he felt wasn't really love. He still wasn't sure which of them was right. Shouldn't he know by now?

Mura-buchou had said that falling in love was, for most people, a slow process. It wasn't nearly as fast as it was in films. He also said that maybe it might be true for some that they'd _know_ when they were in love, but again, for most it wasn't.

Akaya willed himself to blank out his busy mind and just feel as he watched Marui sleep. It was hard; his thoughts always provided a constant commentary for him, and to be without was strange.

But once he'd managed… it was easy to stay that way, for at least a while.

A sudden, fierce swell of possessiveness surged up inside him, and Akaya somehow succeeded in snuggling even closer.

He decided that he couldn't imagine not having Marui around to tease him, kiss him, play childish games with him, stand up for him, explain things to him, run laps with him, sleep with him. He wasn't as emotional as Marui, and people didn't mean nearly as much to him. He was more independent, that was for sure. But…

Akaya closed his eyes and relaxed, a small smile on his lips. Marui meant so much to him that it was sometimes kind of scary. But he didn't want it any other way.

"I love you," he said out loud, just to test how it felt. "I really, really do. I love you, Maru-chan. Maru. Bunta?" He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "Nah. Bunta's weird. Maru. I love you, Maru."

Yeah. That felt… right. It didn't just feel like words anymore. This was True Love, just like Mura-buchou said.

Yay.

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Sandy: -Sighs happily- They are so meant to be.

Just in case you got a bit confused, 'maru' means 'round/spherical' in Japanese. :)

Please leave a review and let me know what you thought! Did I overdo the fluff? Was it alright? Was there not enough, even? (If you think the third option applies, then you must have teeth of steel. And I won't believe you anyway.) Again, if you could include your favourite quote from this drabblething or from another drabblething, that would be hugely helpful to me and it would make me happy like a happy thing. n.n Please.

You know the drill; questions, suggestions, all are welcome.

Until next time!


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